Conventionally, in generation of image and/or audio contents to be used in a broadcast, contents (or a content) in which a speed of movement of an object is partially varied has been often created in order to achieve results a creator intends.
In this generation of the contents in which the speed of movement of the object is varied partially, for example, the contents are generated by setting it at a frame rate higher than a reference frame rate and then reproduced at the reference frame rate, thereby generating the contents expressing the movement of the object slow. Further, the contents are generated by setting it at a frame rate lower than the reference frame rate and then reproduced at the reference frame rate, thereby generating the contents expressing the movement of the object fast. Furthermore, by adjusting a frame rate to be set or a frame rate for reproduction, the speed of movement of the object can be varied at will.
In such a manner, the creator generates broadcast contents using not only the contents generated at the reference frame rate but also the contents having a varied speed of movement of the object, in order to achieve results he or she intends when the contents are reproduced at the reference frame rate.
Further, a video camera that can contract and expand a time axis to generate the contents having a varied frame rate in such a manner is described in, for example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. Hei 11-177930.
On the other hand, with an increase in bandwidth and a decrease in cost of a communication network, it has been put to practical use to transmit contents via this communication network interactively. In transmission of the contents via the communication network, the transmitted contents are stored in a buffer temporarily and then reproduced, thereby absorbing variations occurring over the communication network (fluctuations in arrival of data) to continuously reproduce the contents. Further, with an increase in bandwidth of the communication networks, a larger amount of data can be transmitted.
However, even in this interactive transmission for the contents, as in the case of broadcasting, the contents generated so that an intended result may be achieved when they are reproduced at the reference frame rate have been used as the transmit contents. Therefore, even if the reproduction is performed at a desired speed that is different from the creator's intended speed, a portion of such the contents generated at a varied frame rate cannot be reproduced at the desired speed.